Despite an ongoing refund that will be credited over six months, customers of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will see a ₱0.0803-per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) increase in their monthly electricity bills.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) confirmed in a statement that Meralco will recover approximately ₱8.71 billion in pass-through under-recoveries incurred from 2011 to 2022, which will be collected from customers over a 36-month period, or about three years.

The recovery is due to “true-up” costs, under which the ERC requires distribution utilities to reconcile the amounts they collected with the actual allowable cost of providing service.

ERC Chairperson Francis Saturnino Juan clarified that Meralco would not profit from the recovery, as regulators found that the pass-through charges collected between 2011 and 2022 were lower than the actual allowable costs. Consequently, the ERC authorized Meralco to recover the remaining net balance of ₱8.71 billion.

“Through this confirmation and verification process, the ERC closely scrutinizes every peso that Meralco charges under these components against its actual, allowable costs,” he said.

“This mechanism protects consumers from any unapproved or excessive charges, while ensuring that distribution utilities recover only what they are legitimately entitled to—no more, no less,” the ERC chief added.

Earlier, the ERC ordered Meralco to refund ₱9.51 billion to its consumers over six months, equivalent to an average reduction of ₱0.59/kWh in residential electricity rates.

The refund stems from price corrections for a lapsed regulatory period in 2025, during which the rates charged to consumers did not reflect actual service costs. The discrepancy arose because Meralco’s actual weighted average tariff (AWAT) exceeded approved levels—largely due to high residential demand—prompting the ERC to order the refund of the over-collected amount, including accrued interest. - Gabriell Christel Galang